After a long day in interest arbitration, I began thinking about how bargaining has changed. I remember when it was a real sign of failure when parties couldn’t reach a settlement and had to go to arbitration. If you did fail, you would carefully examine your role and second guess your actions.

No longer. The art of negotiations is dead. No more sitting up until four a.m. or sleeping in the hallways until a deal is hammered out. The negotiations start at ten a.m. and end at four p.m.

Both sides present an assembly line of proposals and counter-proposals—not really interested in making a deal—wasting an incredible amount of time and money for nothing. Then the contract is sent to arbitration, costing even more time and money.